Thousands join Winnipeg Women's March in solidarity with March on Washington

Thousands of people paraded down Portage Avenue in Winnipeg Saturday for a march in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington.

Organizers of the marches, and others like them taking place today around the world, say they rallied to send a message to U.S. President Donald Trump that women's rights are human rights.

Cynthia Fortlage, a trans woman, said LGBT people are scared of Trump and what his presidency could mean to them.

"We're going to lose the rights we already have," she said. "If we want to protect those we have to mobilize."

"We have to be loud, we have to be proud and we have to get people to understand we are human beings too and we deserve human rights."

Saturday's march in Washington reportedly drew hundreds of thousands, with one official estimating the crowd may have topped half a million people. Hundreds of solidarity marches in other cities were held, with marchers intending to show Trump they won't be silent over the next four years.

Karen Rocznik, a former CBC Manitoba reporter now living in Los Angeles, said thousands descended on streets in the city's downtown Saturday holding signs and chanting in support of women's rights.

"There's a definite vibe of people here who are standing up for women's rights, standing up for minority rights," she said when reached by phone.

The march in Winnipeg began at Portage Place mall and moved to the corner of Portage and Main, returned to the downtown mall.